On Sunday, the county's five-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases topped 4,000, crossing a threshold set the previous week to trigger a closure of in-person dining at county restaurants, which were already limited to outdoor seating. That closure will take effect at 10 p.m. Wednesday and remain in place for three weeks.

Davis on Wednesday again emphasized the need for the restriction, saying the current surge in cases makes it imperative to limit the potential for virus spread.

“To slow this disease at this point, limiting certain activities that can easily result in many additional cases, like outdoor dining in restaurants, and reducing the numbers of people indoors in other settings is trying to get our case rate lower so we can move to a less restrictive tier and reopen more businesses,'' Davis said. “We all know what we need to do, but with cases increasing as they have, not enough people are doing it.''

The elimination of in-person dining, even on a temporary basis, has business owners fuming. The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday upheld the restriction on a 3-2 vote, sparking an outcry from restaurateurs and others who call it a death knell for small businesses.

“The Board of Supervisors just laid off tens of thousands of people, including many West Hollywood residents, based on junk science and a need to make it look like they're doing something,'' West Hollywood City Councilman John D'Amico said at a news conference outside The Abbey on Robertson Boulevard. “All of this one month before Christmas. To that I say ‘bah humbug.'

“In fact, what they should be doing is opening up businesses for more hours, with strong operating regulations, careful code compliance efforts, smarter options for everyone -- worker, resident, business owner alike. We don't need to destroy this county to save it. We need to save it.''

David Cooley, owner of The Abbey, fought back tears, saying he fears the three-week dining ban could stretch into New Year's Day, which “will probably put me out of business.'' Cooley said he closed his business early in the pandemic but was able to reopen after making substantial investments in safety measures.

“We learned more about the virus and how to operate our business safely without contributing to its spread,'' he said. “As the state and county constantly changed the safety protocols and regulations, we adopted to every one of them. And believe me it was extremely costly for small businesses to keep up with these guidelines.''

But now, he said, “all that investment is wasted.''

County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn introduced a motion Tuesday seeking to un-do the restriction on in-person dining. They argued the ban will be too onerous on restaurants that are already struggling during the pandemic and could cost as many as 700,000 people to lose their jobs. They also said the restriction was being imposed with no evidence pointing to eateries as a major source of virus spread.

But Supervisors Sheila Kuehl, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Hilda Solis stood behind the ban, saying the rate of virus transmission it so high that the county must take option to stop it.

The city of Long Beach, which maintains its own health department separate from the county, announced that it will follow in the county's footsteps and also end in-person dining Wednesday night.

Pasadena, which also has its own health agency, has not enacted the restriction, saying as a smaller municipality it can better enforce infection-control standards and a smaller number of restaurants.

The county, meanwhile, could soon be enacting even more stringent restrictions on a wider array of businesses. On Monday, the county's five-day average of new cases topped 4,500, a threshold that was expected to trigger a “targeted Safer At Home order'' that would prohibit all public and private gatherings of people not in the same household, with exceptions only for outdoor church services and constitutionally protected protests.

It would allow other retail businesses to stay open but would further restrict capacity and continue to require the use of masks and social distancing. The plan would stop short of the complete lockdown imposed at the outset of the pandemic. Schools would also remain open for high-need students and under TK-2 school-specific waivers, as would beaches, parks and trails.

It was unclear when the county might enact such an order, and despite stressing the urgency of controlling virus transmission, Davis was non-committal on Wednesday about when it would happen. He said health officials were still in discussions with the Board of Supervisors about specifics of the order.

Photos: Getty Images

Dr. Wendy Walsh

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